Pope's Still Alive

Well, hello all. This is going to be short and sweet because I only have half hour of internet usage here! Jordan and I arrived safely in Rome and made it to our hostel on Saturday. We are having a great time so far. Italy is pretty pretty pretty pretty good!

Yesterday we walked around and saw the Roman ruins around the colisseum which were very impressive and the weather was great. 60 degrees felt absolutely balmy after the wet and windy weather in England. We also indulged in some pizza and gelato which was very good. The Italians do pizza and gelato extremely well. It seems like the Italians do food the best and screw the rest! The food is amazing, but for instance the roads and driving seem to be somewhat chaotic.

Today, Sunday we got up early and went to the Colisseum which was very interesting and the size was what impressed me the most. It could stand up to any modern stadium with ease. After that we finished up the rest of the Roman ruins we hadn't seen and then caught the Metro over to St. Peter's square in Vatican City. Since it was Sunday we made sure to get there before noon to hear Pope Benedict's blessing. The square was jam packed with people from all over the world and it was one of the coolest things I've ever been to. The blessing was fifteen minutes long but very moving. People were laughing, crying, singing, dancing, throwing flags in the air and trying to sell umbrellas! I swear one drop of rain falls in Rome and fifteen people pop out of cracks in the ground and try to sell you an umbrella! But it was amazing to see the Pope up there in his window doing his thing!

After that we went in to St. Peters basilica and looked around, climbed to the top which was similar to what we did at St. Paul's in London and at the York Minster. All in all a very impressive day . We had dinner at a nice traditional Italian restaurant which was excellent and not too bad on the pocketbook as well. Another good day in Rome doing as the Romans do!

Tomorrow we go to the Vatican museum and Sistine chapel so that ought to be interesting as well. Then on Tuesday it's off to Florence! So if ya don't know, now ya know...